Dr. Tonya M. Evans

Dr. Tonya M. Evans is a global regulatory strategist and governance/risk/compliance advisor specializing in digital asset frameworks for governments, financial institutions, and enterprises. With 27+ years of legal expertise spanning federal judicial service, BigLaw practice, and policy development, and tenured professorship at top law schools, she now architects compliance strategies that bridge legacy institutions and governments with future-forward innovation and robust regulatory integrity across multi-jurisdictional environments.

As External Expert Reviewer for the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Virtual Asset Service Provider Regulations (2025) and Independent Board Member at Digital Currency Group (2023-present)—one of the world’s most influential blockchain investment firms—Dr. Evans operates at the nexus of regulatory development and institutional governance. She provided U.S. Congressional testimony to the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Digital Assets (2023) and actively advises central banks and regulators and institutional leaders across the United States, Africa, Europe, Asia and the United States on VASP frameworks and digital asset policy, education and law.

Her regulatory intelligence combines ground-level emerging market expertise with sophisticated risk management perspective developed through decades of legal practice and distinguished academic leadership. Dr. Evans’ career trajectory includes federal judicial clerkship (U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit), BigLaw practice (Pepper Hamilton, Drinker Biddle), and pioneering the first Blockchain, Cryptocurrency & Law program at any U.S. law school (2017) during her tenure at UNH Franklin Pierce School of Law. She served in multiple tenured faculty and administrative leadership roles, including Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at UNH Franklin Pierce (2017-2020) and tenured Professor at Penn State Dickinson Law (2020-2025) with a joint appointment at Penn State’s Institute for Computational & Data Sciences (2022-2025), and Associate Dean for Inclusion & Equity at Widener University Commonwealth Law School (2008-2017). This combination of academic leadership, interdisciplinary research expertise, and frontline regulatory advisory work positions her uniquely to address the complex compliance challenges facing financial institutions navigating digital transformation.

As author of Digital Money Demystified and Electing Crypto, Forbes contributor on fintech regulation, and host of “Confidently Crypto” on SiriusXM’s Financially Speaking podcast, Dr. Evans translates complex regulatory developments into actionable strategic guidance for institutions navigating the global digital asset landscape.

Learn more about Dr. Evans at ProfTonyaEvans.com.